Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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197. To ask the Minister for Finance to outline the amount by which the national debt was reduced as a result arising from the establishment of Irish Water and the transfer of the debts associated with water services to this new entity; the savings expected on an annual basis in terms of interest on the national debt arising from this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31105/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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One the key benefits of establishing Irish Water as a commercial utility is that it will be able to access capital markets to raise the funds needed to tackle infrastructure deficit in water services infrastructure in a timely manner.  So, in the future, the borrowings of Irish Water will not affect the national or general government debt.  To access capital markets, Irish Water needs to have creditability in terms of collateral and capacity to service its debt.

Work is currently ongoing to ascertain the value of water related debt in Local Authorities. The Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 provides for the transfer by an Order made by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government of liabilities from local authorities to Irish Water. It is anticipated that this will be effected later in the year based on the financial positions as outlined in the local authority Annual Financial Statements.